Simple Chia Seed Pudding (With Add-In Suggestions)

I’ll add photos some day! Not them fancy food blog photos with white shimmering counter tops and chia seed pudding in a martini glass garnished with orange zest but with real, reused peanut butter jar and IKEA spoon photos on the break room desk at work 😉
Now with photos! Sorry to disappoint, but I had a good small, lidded bowl that worked quite well for portability and ease of eating. No idea what brand the spoon from work is…

If there’s one thing that I’ve found I enjoy eating, but don’t do it often enough, it’s chia seed pudding.

It takes night-before prep to get my chia seed pudding the way I love it: A little thick, but not globby; A little thin, but not runny. This is probably why I don’t end up having it as often as I think I want to.. For most things, I prefer putting food/meals together at the last minute. There’s not to say I don’t like prepping. For instance, I bring sammich ingredients to work, and construct it when I’m ready to eat. Not that you need to know about my weird eating preferences. I like chia seed pudding!

The best part is that you can tweak the consistency to however you want.. And make it with whatever liquid you want.. AND add in whatever you want!

Here is the most basic recipe for a medium consistency chia seed pudding. I’d suggest starting with this and then seeing where your tastebuds want to take you next!

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoon chia seeds
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Prep

1. In a container with a lid, stir chia seeds and milk together. I like to use a wide-mouth, shallow container so I can just eat it right out of the container because I’m lazy I’m efficient.



2. Cover and refrigerate for around 20min
3. After 20min, give it another stir. They start to absorb the liquid right away and this extra stir helps to spread them out a bit so they don’t clump up later.
4. Refrigerate overnight
5. Chow down! Grab a spoon, give it a stir, enjoy!

Options

Substitutions

You can substitute the milk with pretty much whatever liquid you want.. Regular milk, nut milk, soy milk, etc. Perhaps mixing chia seeds with juice would give a more “chia jello” than pudding! (Note to self: Try this when you’re feeling daring.)

You can experiment with consistency by changing the proportion of chia seeds to milk. If it gets too thick, you can always thin it out with more milk. If you prefer it thinner, add a little more milk at the start. If you prefer it thicker, add more chia seeds at the start.

There’s no harm in eating it before it’s sat for hours. If you find you like it thinner, dig right in! I’ve let mine sit up to two days and didn’t have any issues either. I may have had to add a bit more milk to thin it to my taste. Like that was hard 🙂

During Prep Add-Ins

Sweeten it up with a little brown sugar, white sugar, or your preferred sweetener. Just taste it as you’re mixing it up. I’ve heard that honey is tasty but can be difficult to stir in. Maple syrup is bound to work better here.

Spice it up! A little ground cinnamon goes a long way. Make sure you stir it in well. Cinnamon seems to like to float on top of the milk’s surface tension. Add bit of ground ginger and clove for some fall spice flair.

Cocoa powder!! Add a teaspoon of cocoa powder for a chocolate pudding. Sweetening is always optional. I prefer the “dark” chocolate taste, but I can imagine a maple cocoa chia seed pudding being pretty fantastic.

Afterwards Add-Ins

I love it in its simplest form.. Seeds, milk, vanilla, and prefer to have my add-ins later.

When you’re ready to eat it, mix in some fresh fruit. My favorite is to add some cut up strawberries. Yuuummmmmm.

Chocolate chips are a fun way to add some extra sweet, too.

You can probably add any toppings that you’d normally add to oatmeal. Maybe not peanut/other nut butter though. It’s not warm so it won’t melt the nut butter and mix in very well.

Be adventurous! Share your chia seed pudding concoctions!